Middle aged women and their physical activity leisure selves

Exercise participation can be difficult for women during the transitional stage of middle age, due to physiological, psychological and social changes. This study explored the perceptions of women aged 40–54 in London UK, to leisure exercise from within their whole life contexts. Using a lifecourse framework, nine women, self-reported exercisers and non-exercisers were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. Thematic Analysis surfaced three inductive themes: (1) being middle aged, (2) perceptions of physical activity levels, (3) being an exerciser and one deductive theme (4) on health messaging. Novel findings suggest that perceptions of personal physical activity are relative to the participants historically perceived levels and suggest a discrete ‘closed system of fitness improvement’. The significance of this is that it may uncover determinants that cannot be seen by traditional objective measures for improvement and adherence. Also, participants found it difficult to find appropriate age and fitness level classes and all participants thought targeted health campaigns were not meant for them but for others. Organisations and fitness professionals, tasked to encourage participation, might consider these findings when designing facilities, classes and messaging to encourage participation.

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